Back to Blogging.. Or, Blogging -- because I have way more to do than I can manage, so why not do more? But seriously, I've been catching up on my mail -- actually reading my listserve newsletters, etc. It was somewhat refreshing to find that it isn't just NPR that worries about the erosion of civil rights in our post 9/11 world. Mind you, I think Zacharias Moussaoui is pretty much guilty as hell -- partially because the papers say he says so -- but I think it's more important now than ever that th US uphold the constitution it claims to be defending. So maybe it's good that John Barnhill is worried about the Sixth Amendment. Frankly, I worry any time someone tells me criticizing the government is Unamerican. Me, I figure it's my job.

Aha -- just caught up with last week's news. There I was, thinking that the somewhat ridiculous Cynthia McKinney (just because I'm a left-wing type doesn't mean I've lost my mind -- she's a Politician, and appears to have crossed the fine line between being a representative and wanting to win at any cost) was the most important news in Georgia. Then I came across this little tidbit in the New York Times: apparently that forward-thinking County of Cobb (home of the Big Chicken, I believe) feels the need to point out that "Evolution is just a theory". This drives me crazy. How dare people think that they can limit what God can or cannot do, and how dare they expect that those limits are in one humanly fallible book? Of course, these are often the same people who call themselves Christians but focus on the Old Testament -- which confuses me, maybe because, if the Incarnation is crucial to being Christian, don't you want to pay more attention to what Jesus purportedly said? But I digress. Oh wait -- this whole thing is a digression, isn't it?br
But back to McKinney. I suppose she wanted the intelligence failures to have been deliberate cover-ups for a couple of reasons. First, she hates the current administration. Second, it means she can blame somebody -- any lots of people need to blame so that they can have...what's the word? Oh -- "Closure." Frankly, I think it's just because our intelligence agencies aren't. They are Balkanized and populated by a lot of not-necessarily well-educated military folks. Not that being in the military denotes lack of education, mind. But think of the people who formed the backbone of the intelligence community during the Second World War -- lots of academics who were helping to defend and support a cause. Nowadays, I get the feeling that academics aren't welcome because we've actually read the constitution and -- gasp -- ask questions. So, I suppose what I'm saying is that, where McKinney sees intent, I see a design flaw.

Hmmm. That wasn't the cheery blog I'd planned. Oh well -- maybe a break will perk things up.